Understand the Democratic vote through dance

Are you having difficulty understanding why Barack Obama is soaring and Hillary Clinton is drowning in Democratic Party primaries and caucuses all of sudden? Do you love to watch politicians dance or talk about the importance of dance education? Well, boy, do I have a post for you.

See, I have summed up the recent dynamic in the Democratic Party through something we all understand… dancing.

Online searches for Barack and Hillary dancing come up with two distinctly different interpretations ensue. Seriously, watch, you’ll get it.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63SOEpk5GQI]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsWpvkLCvu4]

Obama as the front runner

barack-obama-bw.pngCan we call it? Probably not, but it seems like Senator Barack Obama is the Democratic Party candidate of the people. Obama is on the cover of the Economist, the authoritative  international news magazine, and Hillary Clinton’s campaign seems to be swinging wildly.

The trouble may be that this surge has come too late. If Obama fails to reach the delegate count he needs to win his party’s nomination before the end of the primaries in June, the whole process gets thrown to super delegates, 796 Democratic Party machinists, who most analysts think would be more likely to support Hillary than the average voter.

All that said, much is made of polls that suggest Obama has a better chance of John McCain, who has all but taken the Republican nomination. Indeed, if Hillary can be vilified, McCain, for his part, sure can piss of Christian conservatives and other right wing elements.

Obama comes out the cleanest in today’s standings, but, as noted in most every news source, the reason he comes out the cleanest – less of a voting record, focus on ‘hope’ – may also be his downfall – inexperienced and impractical.

We're AFSCME

A friend showed me an absolute gem on YouTube. In the 1970s, a narrator apparently recorded an alternate voice over for a public service announcement about AFSCME, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3mw49mk_x0]

Progress Plaza video

The Temple News is trying to add more video content to our coverage. Check this video by Chief Copy Editor Chris Stover and his partner in crime LeAnne Matlach, Assistant News Editor, on Progress Plaza, the country’s first black owned shopping mall. It abuts Temple University’s Main Campus and is going through a regeneration.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7jILTpKqBk]

Dianne Reed: A woman of fiscal mind watches our youth

Interview and article prepared for the Philadelphia Business Journal, as filed yesterday, without edits, to run in next Friday’s edition. In 2003, a Bucks County counselor told Dianne E. Reed something she foundstartling.reed-dianne-e.jpg“She told me, ‘these kids are getting angrier,” Reed said.Five years later and fresh off a three year bid as budget director under former Mayor John F. Street, Reed wants to do something about it.In late January, she became the executive director of the Corporate Alliance for Drug Education, a 21-year-old nonprofit based in Old City that focuses on school-based behavioral prevention initiatives.The group trains and dispatches prevention specialists to work in select schools as ‘import teachers,’ speaking to students, as young as kindergarten, about drug refusal strategies and conflict resolution, among other things.“We’re helping kids accept and develop coping skills,” she said.She is eager to leverage her sizable experience to enact change in Philadelphia. Before her role as budget director, Reed spent almost a decade leading the Pennsylvania Economy League. Before that, she worked in the Philadelphia offices of KPMG for eight years.“I have the big picture,” she said. “I have seen how high levels of government implement prevention methods.”At its peak, CADE had 18 specialists working in schools. Now the group is down to nine. Reed hopes to increase that total again and spread throughout the region.State Representative Dwight Evans (D-Phila) last week secured a $50,000 grant so the organization could place specialists in schools in the neighborhoods of Cobbs Creek and Point Breeze for the remainder of the school year.She wants to more actively pursue corporate activity in CADE.On April 10, CADE is hosting a fundraiser and awards ceremony in conjunction with the Franklin Institute’s Star Wars exhibit. The night will include a reception, silent and live auctions, a buffet and an awards presentation.It’s an event to raise money so Reed and CADE can help the kids.

Rappin' Mix Master Mayor

The previous post was on Michael Nutter appearing on ABC’s ‘World News Tonight‘ with Charlie Gibson on Wednesday. In it, Gibson mentioned video of Nutter rapping on his inauguration night. Check that video out below and be amazed. He doesn’t even embarrass himself. Seriously.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zxCOKG3orQ]

New Opera makes East Coast debut in Philly

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After debuting his first full-length Opera in Detroit, David DiChiera, the father of Michigan Opera scene, has brought “Cyrano” to the Opera Company of Philadelphia until tomorrow.

It is a modern form of “Cyrano de Bergerac,” Edmond Rostand’s famed 19th-century play of unrequited love.

DiChiera, 72, is old enough to begin his Opera-writing career, but he has been trained and involved in the art all his life.

(Photo: David DiChiera, in Philadelphia before Wednesday’s performance of “Cyrano,” the 72-year-old’s first full-length opera. By Jim Graham For The Washington Post, from an article referenced in this post)

First place Keystone Press Award

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The winners of the Keystone Press Awards for 2007 were announced recently, both professional, academic and collegiate levels. The prizes are awarded by the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association.

I will be sharing first place in the personality profile category with Tyson McCloud for a feature we wrote for The Temple News on a Temple University alumni who found and lost love in World War II. There are 16 categories in the collegiate level, and nine staff members of The Temple News were recognized in seven different categories. Last year’s award winners.

(Above photograph depicts me with a 2006 Keystone Press Award for a first place standing from news coverage covering a SEPTA strike in 2005. I shared that finish with others.)

Look, another list that criticizes Philadelphia

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Well, if there’s anything that media has figured out in this age of failure, it is that lists sell. Particularly lists stacking and ordering cities, something everyone takes pride in, even as people continue to leave them. So it is no surprise that Forbes magazine recently came out with a list ordering cities by a ‘misery’ code.To come to their conclusions Forbes made all sorts of quasi-scientific sounding scales and used all sorts of measures. Yeah.Philadelphia is in the top five, top place went to Detroit.To see the list, complete with the numbers Forbes came up with, check after the jump. Continue reading Look, another list that criticizes Philadelphia